I've been in something of a reflective mood. Or maybe obsessive. The line between the two wobbles a bit for me. What I've been dwelling on is failure. There's what for me is a common failure--art. For every piece of art I show people, several pieces are in the trash. I experience varying degrees of …
I'm rereading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Have you read it? The first time, I read every footnote too. This time, I'm keeping to the story. I love the book even more the second time around. The rhythm of the words and fullness of the characters amaze me. It both inspires and depresses me. I …
I've been drawing a lot of pictures of women with their eyes closed. Or maybe one eye is open, looking to the right as if something over there needs watching over. Not sure if anything should be read into that. But in other news, I've decided on major rewrites to my current manuscript. Rewriting involves …
I entered a fan fiction contest. Well, it wasn't called a fan fiction writing contest, but it was for fans of Twin Peaks. The fan site Welcome to Twin Peaks hosted. The idea was to write a backstory for a minor character. I didn't make it to the final round, so I'm going to post …
I listen to several podcasts. The other day I checked out Helping Writers become Authors to see if I should add it to my list. In one episode, the podcaster, K.M. Weiland (whose work I am not actually familiar with) talked about books that shaped her as a writer. There's no need to repeat what …
I had a fairytale published over at Enchanted Conversation. Click over to read, and read the other stories too. Leave a comment. Share. All those things help. They even made a cover for my story! Which was a pleasant surprise. In my excitement about having a story published and finding a nifty site to make …
I've found a video creation platform to experiment with. For this one, I uploaded a blog post and some of my artwork, and ta-da! A video! I'm using the free version, so there are limited choices for fonts and other details, but I'm happy with this early effort. What shall I do next? Thinking, thinking...
Who is the dreamer? An artist of some kind, I expect. A storyteller. A mad woman? I don't know. Maybe everyone is mad these days. Well, not everyone. The other evening I watched a documentary on Netflix about the shoemaker, Manolo Blahnik. Do you like shoes? I have mixed feelings about shoes. Because of my …
“I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.” ~from Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar Today, I didn't blindly pull the Sylvia Plath card. I took out my Poet Tarot deck and she was on top. Of course, she was. I placed her there …
My mother and I had those topics we returned to again and again. One was the role of ritual in our daily lives. Questions we tried to answer: Was ritual (or spiritual practice or tradition) necessary? What was ritual for? Did ritual make a person happier? Healthier? Was the lack of ritual a contributor to …
Marta Bacon 